As a Seller, what should I expect from realtor? (feedback, agent, commission)

[margeaa]

My husband and I currently have our house up for sale. I am not sure what we should expect our realtor to do for us. I understand that the market is not good at all now in our area. There are several other houses for sale in our area and nothing is selling. We are all comparably priced. Our realtor has listed our house and it is on several websites. She also placed it in a newspaper ad that her agency put out one week. Our house was also featured in a mailing that her agency sent out in our town one week.

Our house has been on the market now for about 2 months. I think we have only had about 7 people come to look at the house. We have had no offers.

Our realtor has only called us to tell us that someone is coming to see the house. Otherwise we have had no contact with her. Once, when she called to tell us that another agent was bringing someone to look at the house, I asked her if she has gotten any feedback from anybody. She said no.

When she first looked at the house before we contracted with her, I asked her to be honest with me and let me know if there was anything I needed to do to make the house more sellable. She only told me to get rid of any personal pictures in the house...which I did. I asked if I needed to declutter anymore and she said no.

As I said earlier, I understand that the market is not good now and that other houses are also not selling. I asked her about doing an open house and she said that they are a waste of time today. Actually, it's very rare to find an open house in this area. I don't know why.

So....sorry this is so long....but I was just wondering if my realtor should be doing more for me. I guess I'm just feeling frustrated. I feel that I'm in limbo now. Now that we made the decision to sell....I just want the house to sell!

Thanks for any input,
Marge

[DodgeViper01]

As a realtor she has done everything well in terms of advertising but it does not seem she is doing much follow up. I am guessing she is acting like most realtors who somewhat already have an idea of whether the house will sell and then act accordingly. How well are you priced? I would tell her that you want her to check in with you every week or two. That is usually what I do with my clients. If we talk for 15 minutes, at least we get to discuss the activity of the property and what we can possibly do to change it for the better.

[gbone]

You say that you are comparably priced with other houses that are listed and not selling. Comparable pricing should be based on houses that have sold. If nothing has sold then more than likely all of you are priced high.

[Silverfall]

In my area if you want the house to sell fast it has to be a deal. Are you a deal or just average? Average takes longer.

[IntownHomes247]

It makes me crazy when I hear about agents who don't communicate with their clients. What are they thinking? It's a huge deal. Trying to sell a house is like waiting for medical test results or college admission letters. You need to know what's going on. Let your agent know that you need better communication. I send my clients a weekly summary of marketing efforts to let them see what's happening as far as how many people are looking at the listing, even if they are not making appointments to see the house in person. Also, let her know that you want her to make a priority of getting feedback. To a lot of agents, they consider the only worthwhile feedback to be an offer. But it's entirely possible the other agents' clients are making comments that could help you sell (like it's overpriced or it needs to be decluttered, etc.).

Make sure you communicate that you're not satisfied with her execution of a part of her job she can control (namely her communication skills). She can't guarantee that she'll be able to find a buyer for your house, but she should be able to make sure she keeps you in the loop about what she's doing to try to find one and what she's hearing from the ones who look but don't write an offer.

Best of luck!

[middle-aged mom]

Listing agents do not sell homes. Listing agents persuade homowners to choose them, versus the competition.

Many listing agents have no clue about how markets work, other than if it's not selling at the current price, well then in X days , lower the price and see what happens. Repeat as necessary. Let me be blunt. This is BS.

The majority of unsold homes on the market will end up overwintering. If you are motivated to sell in this market, you need to be the best value proposition out there, right now. Why else would someone buy your house versus the competition?

You need to be better than your competition, not comparable.

Have you looked online for your listing? How does the copy read and the pictures look, versus the competition?

When does your listing expire? Sounds like you need someone who is your advocate and committed to getting you sold.

[margeaa]

Thanks to all who responded to my thread.

There are about 40 houses for sale in my area. Houses are priced from the 300s to the 700s. Houses that are comparable to mine are in the 400s and 500s. We have ours priced in the mid 500s because we recently renovated, have an extra bathroom, new roof, new heating system, central air, new kitchen, etc. None of the houses are selling right now. The market is totally dead.

My husband and I discussed the online listing, how it read and how the photos are. They are okay. We don't like a couple of photos. But overall, the online listing is good. There are 21 photos.

Our listing with this agent ends in a month. We are now discussing what we will do after that. Not sure if we will stay with this agent because we don't feel she is communicating with us. The reason I started this thread is because I'm not sure what we should be expecting from her. We sold our last house on the first day it was listed....it was a seller's market then....and we didn't have much much time to relate to our agent! We were really lucky then.

I guess I also expected the agent to give me more advice as to what I can do to make my house stand out from the rest. She told me that it looks great but after doing a lot of reading here on the forum, and elsewhere on the internet, I'm thinking that maybe I can do more. However, as my husband points out, none of the houses are selling. Maybe we just need to wait it out.

Thanks again for all your help.

Marge

[Chuckity]

It's impossible to know how you truly compare to your competition without actually being in your market ... BUT ...

I have to say that that, IMHO and in my market, you cannot be $100K above your competition for the things you have listed and expect to sell.

Sometimes, some upgrades don't necessarily amount to a higher asking price - instead, what they will do is MAYBE make a home sell quicker. (When priced competitively with other comparable homes that is.)

Originally Posted by margeaa

Thanks to all who responded to my thread.

There are about 40 houses for sale in my area. Houses are priced from the 300s to the 700s. Houses that are comparable to mine are in the 400s and 500s. We have ours priced in the mid 500s because we recently renovated, have an extra bathroom, new roof, new heating system, central air, new kitchen, etc. None of the houses are selling right now. The market is totally dead.

My husband and I discussed the online listing, how it read and how the photos are. They are okay. We don't like a couple of photos. But overall, the online listing is good. There are 21 photos.

Our listing with this agent ends in a month. We are now discussing what we will do after that. Not sure if we will stay with this agent because we don't feel she is communicating with us. The reason I started this thread is because I'm not sure what we should be expecting from her. We sold our last house on the first day it was listed....it was a seller's market then....and we didn't have much much time to relate to our agent! We were really lucky then.

I guess I also expected the agent to give me more advice as to what I can do to make my house stand out from the rest. She told me that it looks great but after doing a lot of reading here on the forum, and elsewhere on the internet, I'm thinking that maybe I can do more. However, as my husband points out, none of the houses are selling. Maybe we just need to wait it out.

Thanks again for all your help.

Marge

[Silverfall]

Originally Posted by margeaa

I guess I also expected the agent to give me more advice as to what I can do to make my house stand out from the rest. She told me that it looks great but after doing a lot of reading here on the forum, and elsewhere on the internet, I'm thinking that maybe I can do more. However, as my husband points out, none of the houses are selling. Maybe we just need to wait it out.

Thanks again for all your help.

Marge

Have a stager come into your home. Pay them for some consultation time. Some agents have a good eye for what looks good and some don't.

[Sandy Nelson]

Your agent should:
Have flyers outside the home.
Have your home on all the relevant websites (incl. zillow, trulia, craigslist, realtor.com).
Have good signage for your listing.
Have great photos and maybe even a virtual tour of your home
Hold public open houses.
Hold Broker's Open Houses to bring in agents.
Solicit feedback from visitors and agents to see where the listing is lacking.
Evaluate feedback and counsel you on staging options, price reduction, or other improvements.
Report to you regularly on his/her marketing efforts and feedback received.

A limited service agency can put your listing in the MLS, good agents earn their commission with quality marketing and customer service.

Just my two cents.

Sandy